An Affair to Remember
by JRW9699
Summary: AU. After almost a year of being officially 'on', Oliver and Laurel break-up…again. After a few too many commiseratory drinks with Tommy and Diggle, a plan is formed and Felicity Smoak is given an offer she can't refuse. The condition: she has to pretend to be his girlfriend in order to win his ex back. (Rating is for frequent swearing, no lemons)
1. Chapter 1

**An Affair to Remember**

 **Rating: M**

 **Characters: Oliver Queen, Felicity Smoak, Laurel Lance, Tommy Merlyn, Roy Harper, John Diggle, Slade Wilson, Thea Queen, Curtis Holt, Barry Allen, Cisco Ramon, Catlin Snow, Ray Palmer, Sara Lance, Nyssa al Ghul, Helena Bertinelli, Robert and Moira Queen, Noah Kuttler and Donna Smoak.**

 **Summary: AU. After almost a year of being officially 'on', Oliver and Laurel break-up…again. After a few too many commiseratory drinks with Tommy and Diggle, a plan is formed and Felicity Smoak is given an offer she can't refuse. The condition: she has to pretend to be his girlfriend in order to win his ex back. (Rating is for frequent swearing, no lemons)**

 **Author's Note: Important things in the closing notes on this one, please read them.**

* * *

"Come on, girl, what's going on?" The voice of Curtis came through her phone.

"I'd know what they were saying of you'd shut up." Felicity chided.

The blonde stood in the hall at the foot of the stairs, one ear pressed against the door to the living room, listening to her parent's conversation. Sure, most people would consider eavesdropping on their parents a questionable thing to do, but Felicity was determined to hear their discussion.

"Donna, I'm hardly comfortable leaving her alone for two weeks, she's hardly old enough." Noah, Felicity's stubbornly overprotective father, stated.

Felicity had to fight the urge to roll her eyes at his comments. Her father was a caring man, he did everything he could for her and her mother, but sometimes he could be a little overbearing. As a result, Felicity was hardly ever allowed to spend more than a day or two unsupervised, despite being more than capable of taking care of herself.

"She's seventeen, dear, 'Lissy is more than mature enough to look after herself." Donna retorted.

"But if anything happens to her…"

"She'll be fine." Donna cut over her husband. "She hardly adopted your rebellious streak, we both remember what you were like back during our collage days."

Felicity couldn't hear her father's response to that, whatever it was it had been begrudgingly mumbled under his breath. As stubborn as her father was, nobody could win an argument with Donna Smoak. Yep, she had even insisted on keeping her own name when they had married.

"Then it's settled, Felicity stays here, we'd better start packing if we're planning on getting on that plane tomorrow."

That was all the blonde needed to hear. With a smile brighter than she could have possibly imagined, Felicity ran back to her room, taking the stairs two at a time. Once she was safely in her room, the door shut behind her, she raised the phone back to her ear.

"Two sweet-sweet parent free weeks!" Felicity squealed down the phone.

"Oh, hell yes! Girl, you know what this means." It was hardly a question when Curtis spoke.

"Party! Party! Party!" The two friends sang at the same time, each performing a small victory dance as they did.

"You always do get the best ideas, 'Lissy." Curtis' smile was practically audible. "Where are your folks going anyway?"

"Some company retreat in France. The Queen's invited them." Felicity replied absentmindedly, taking a seat at the vanity which was placed before her bedroom window.

Her father was a reasonably close friend of Robert Queen, it was hardly a surprise given the line of work they were both in. When Felicity's parents had moved to Starling City, the reason for the move begin Donna's pregnancy, her father had started a reasonably small IT firm. The man was a genius with computers, his talent far beyond anyone else, so the company had grown with him in charge.

It hit a snowball effect when 'Smoak Technologies', which had been named for his then-unborn daughter (Donna had insisted that her daughter would take her last name), received the contract to re-design Queen Consolidated's cyber-security. Her father was by no means rich, especially by Starling City's standards, but he made more than enough money for the family of three to be contended in any of their endeavours.

In the midst of that, Noah Kuttler and Robert Queen had become friends, though how was beyond Felicity's understanding, the two men were nothing alike. Through that friendship came the endless invites to charity galas and company retreats, all of which Felicity refused to attend, if there was anything she hated above all else it was schmoozing.

"Well, whatever they're doing, it means we can throw a killer party." Curtis replied. "We're gonna get some serious credit for this."

Curtis had a point. If the two of them could plan and throw a decent party, it would do some serious wonders for their reputation at 'Starling Academy'. Sure, they weren't _unpopular_ but they weren't particularly high up on the pecking order either. If there was a party to be thrown it was at the hands of Oliver Queen or Tommy Merlyn, the two 'billion-heirs' of Starling City. Felicity herself had never so much as had a conversation with either of that duo, they were a grade above her and so they never moved in the same circles.

Felicity, and the rest of her group of friends, had never so much as seen an invite to one of those parties…okay, so maybe they were kinda unpopular, but Felicity was hardly going to admit that easily.

"'Lissy!?" A shrill voice suddenly cut into her ears.

"Curtis, I gotta go, mom's calling." Felicity stood and turned to face the door. "Get onto the gang and start making some plans."

With that, Felicity ended the call, tossing her phone onto her bed before practically skipping down the stairs. One thought kept looping through Felicity's mind as she headed to talk to her parents:

 _This is going to be the best week ever._

Karma, of course, had different plans.

 _XXX_

Oliver hated the elite restaurants that Starling City housed.

As someone who had been raised eating in the most expensive of locals, that might have seemed like a laughable statement but it was true. Oliver spent far too much time sitting around and schmoozing with Starling City's One Percenters in those venues for them to hold any more appeal to him. It was always an amusing thought, but Oliver was never happier with restaurant food than when he and Tommy had discovered Big Belly Burger.

Impatiently, Oliver began drumming his fingers on the table, glancing to the hostess' desk every few moments. In between those glances, he was observing the other occupants of the restaurant, there were a handful of business dinners and more than a few couples enjoying a romantic evening of their own. That thought made Oliver glance back down to his watch.

 _9:25_

It was ironic given the way the Starling City gossip columns presented him, but more often than not it was Laurel who was late in attendance for their dates. All things considered, that was a relatively new habit of hers, but that night should have been different, for both of them. It was their one year anniversary.

Of course, it wasn't strictly a year since the couple started dating. Oliver and Laurel had been on and off since their mid-teens but, a year ago, he had made a promise to put a real effort into their relationship. That revelation had more than disappointed the gossip columns, practically as soon as he and Tommy had started hitting the club scene, they had stopped again.

"Sorry I'm late." Laurel's voice dragged Oliver back into reality.

A smile creeping over his face, he got to his feet, waiting for her to cross the rest of the distance to their table. Oliver took in her appearance immediately; the knee-length black dress, the diamond necklace he had bought her for her birthday, and her hair framing her face in loose curls.

"It's alright." Oliver answered once she had approached, pressing a brief kiss to her lips before they both took a seat.

Once they were both seated, Oliver watched on as Laurel slowly looked around the room, taking in their surroundings. It was one of the small things that always got to Oliver, one of those problems with being; you always had to spend as much as possible on any given occasion. No matter how much Laurel insisted that she didn't care about the money, there was always a vague hint of disappointment in her eyes if she thought Oliver wasn't giving her the best of the best.

He supposed that was because, when they were first an item, he had equated displaying his affections for Laurel to spending an extraordinary amount of money on her. It seemed that had stuck, and Laurel herself now believed that if their dates were not at high-class restaurants then Oliver's affection for her were on the wane.

"You've seriously outdone yourself on this one," Laurel began, indicating vaguely at the restaurant. "After our last date, I'm impressed."

"Come on, Laurel, it's hardly my fault that they thought I was making reservations for July next year."

In fairness, it was slightly his fault. Oliver had called one of the most in-demand restaurants in Starling and had made a reservation for a week from his call. Apparently, they were that in demand they had just assumed that he was making plans _that_ far in advance. Regardless, given Laurel's reaction at the time, Oliver had passed the blame wholly onto the restaurant.

He was _Oliver Queen_ , they really should have made an exception in their bookings for him.

"Chill out, Ollie." Laurel threw him a smile that Oliver knew was forced. "I was just teasing. You used to be so much more laid back about this stuff."

' _Funny, that changed right about when we started dating_ '. The voice in Oliver's head spoke up.

Oliver practically had to shake his head to put those thoughts aside, mentally slapping himself for so much as thinking something so hurtful. Sure, things between Laurel and himself had become a lot tenser in the last few weeks; they had argued a little more, hardly went out together unless it was for QC related events, Laurel had given up pushing the moving in idea, and to top it all off, they hadn't had sex for a _week_. Though Oliver was hoping the simple fact that it was their one year anniversary would resolve that last issue.

Despite Oliver thinking that he had done a pretty good job of masking his annoyance at her comment, Laurel seemed to have picked up on it, given the awkward silence that had befallen the couple. In an attempt to distract from the uncomfortable atmosphere, Oliver looked across the room and made a loose wave at the waiters he had spoken to before Laurel's arrival, and not thirty-seconds later the man returned, placing a bottle of red wine on the table.

Sure, he and Laurel were two years beneath the legal drinking age, but he _was_ Oliver Queen…and he ate at that restaurant a fair amount. Okay, so maybe the real reason he got away with drinking at restaurants was because he was an _extremely_ generous tipper, and that was common knowledge in the Starling City circuit.

Picking up the bottle, Oliver reached across the table and began to fill Laurel's glass. That was when he noticed it. Laurel was a surprisingly easy person to read, or maybe it was simply because Oliver knew her so well. Her eyes kept flicking to different things around the room, pretty much anywhere that wasn't him, and her fingers were nervously drumming against her legs.

' _This is bad_ ', the voice in his head returned.

' _It's probably nothing, Quentin being a jerk again or something_ ', Oliver answered it.

' _Remember the last time this happened? When she got super drunk and kissed a guy at that party?_ '

' _We weren't even dating then, and there's_ _ **nothing**_ _wrong.'_

' _Dude, are you seriously going to argue with your subconscious?_ '

"Ollie, we need to talk." Laurel wrenched him from his trance.

"About what?" Oliver asked, attempting to act as though he wasn't already panicking.

"It's…well…" Laurel stumbled a little, clearing her throat. "Ollie, I just…you're a great guy, and we've shared so much over the years."

"But?" Oliver questioned.

Whatever suspicions the voice in his head had were certainly conformed by Laurel's words. There was something bad, something that was a little more serious than he had anticipated.

"But," Laurel began. "I think we…I think it would be for the best if we…take some time apart."

 _What?_

Oliver was beyond words, completely unable to process what Laurel had just said. He couldn't understand it, simply replaying Laurel's words over and over in disbelief. It connected with his mind as if he had just been slapped, his girlfriend had just declared that she wanted to break-up. Laurel, who had talked about them moving in together, who had professed to being in love with him, had just suggested they break-up, one their _one year anniversary_ of all times!

"Why?" Oliver questioned, but gave her no time to answer. "I mean, things have been good with us, haven't they?"

Sure, things had been a little bit distant with them in the last few weeks, but it hadn't been anything that serious. Sure, they'd bickered a little more, but that was hardly a surprise, they had been pretty stressed over finals. The lack of public outings wasn't anything new either, they went through phases. Whatever issues had been between them, Oliver had figured that they'd have been able to handle it.

"Things were good, Oliver, but," Laurel struggled. "Well, we're both headed to collage soon, and…we'll be away from each other…"

Laurel left it unsaid but the insinuation was there. She worried that Oliver's wandering eyes would get worse if they were apart, that he would slip back into his old habits. He would be lying if he said that particular thought hadn't already occurred, but Oliver had made a promise to himself that he wouldn't…indulge.

"Plenty of couple survive the long-distance thing." Oliver tried.

"There's something else." Laurel spoke softly, suddenly finding the table particularly interesting. "I…met someone."

"You met someone?!" Oliver yelled, jumping to his feet. "The fuck does that mean?"

Oliver hardly noticed the way the rest of the restaurants occupants turned to himself and Laurel in that moment, nor did he noticed the shocked gasps the emitted from the elite of Starling City at the same time. It was no surprise that every person in the room knew who he was, he was, after all, the son of Robert and Moira Queen, perhaps the two most influential people in Starling. The downside of that fact, as Oliver would soon find out, was that his parents would be aware of the incident before he even made it back to the Queen Estate.

"Ollie," Laurel whispered. "Keep your voice down."

"Keep my voice down?" Oliver asked in outrage, leaning forward a little, his clenched fists resting on the table. "You tell me that you're breaking up with me because you've been _cheating_ on me, and you want me to keep my voice down?"

"I did _not_ cheat on you." Laurel retorted in anger, standing from her chair to face Oliver, her voice raised to match his.

"What would you call it then?" Oliver snapped.

"Meeting someone who I actually connect with."

He'd be lying if he said that comment hadn't hurt but Oliver did his best to ignore it.

"I don't believe this." His voice was a little tamer, finally realising how much of a spectacle they had caused.

"I am sorry, Oliver." Laurel tried, reaching out to his hands which were still balled in fists on the table.

As soon as Oliver felt her touch he recoiled, as if he had been burnt by the contact.

"Don't." Oliver's voice took a harsher edge than he expected. "Don't say that like it actually means anything."

"What am I supposed to say, Ollie?!"

Oliver let out an exasperated sigh. "Go to hell, Laurel." With that Oliver walked past Laurel and stormed out of the restaurant, leaving her to stew in her obvious guilt.

 _XXX_

"Shake it off, man." Tommy clapped Oliver on the back, sliding another shot along the bar and into the hands of his best friend. "You got dumped, it happens, but you are Oliver Queen and there are plenty of attractive women in this club."

The moment he had left the restaurant Oliver had called both Tommy and Diggle, the former had suggested meeting at a club to help Oliver drown at his sorrows. As much as Diggle wasn't the biggest fan of hitting the club scene and getting drunk, he relented for Oliver's sake.

The three friends were now sat at the bar of some club that Tommy had picked out for them, music blaring in their ears and smoke lightly clouding their vision. Naturally, Tommy had insisted that they go straight on the shots, and Oliver had eagerly agreed. A few more later, Oliver had finally begun to open up to his friends.

"It's not that easy, Tommy." Oliver stated, downing the shit he had been given, not even able to taste it. "I loved her. I can't just get over her with a one night stand."

"Actually, you can." Tommy smirked, ordering another round of shots for them.

When the colourful plastic glasses were placed on the table, Diggle declined his, pushing it across to Tommy. Being significantly older than both Tommy and Oliver, Diggle was already of the legal drinking age and was far more aware of where to draw the line. Granted, he had only taken two so far, but by the looks of it, someone would have to carry the two billion-heirs home.

"I'm not you, Tommy." Oliver snapped after downing the shot. "Don't even try and compare our romantic lives, you're never with a girl longer than two weeks before you ditch her."

Despite what people thought, Oliver really wasn't that much of a playboy. Sure, he had slept around a little before he and Laurel had become serious, but it had always been on the understanding that it was a one-time thing. He had a rule to avoid sleeping with the same woman more than once. When he dated someone, he was serious.

"I'll have you know that…wait a minute," Tommy paused, seemingly lost in thought. "You might actually be onto something there."

Oliver and Diggle shared a brief look, one that said they both knew Tommy wasn't being sarcastic. Apparently, he really hadn't noticed his horrendous track record with women. Tommy wasn't anywhere as close to…chivalrous…as Oliver was, he slept with any girl he chose and damned the consequences. Even if his potential partner was obviously in the pursuit of a relationship, Tommy wouldn't discourage them.

"Don't go expecting to win any boyfriend of the year awards, Merlyn." Diggle remarked dryly, patting Tommy on the shoulder.

The three fell into a brief silence, the bartender placing more shots in front on Oliver and Tommy.

"I just don't know how I'm going to fix this." Oliver practically whispered, taking the shot straight after.

"Fix it?" Diggle and Tommy asked simultaneously, with matching incredulous expressions.

"I've gotta win Laurel back, figure out what I did wrong." Oliver clarified.

It was Diggle and Tommy's turn to share a look. They were both clearly a little shocked at his statement, more at the idea that Oliver thought the break-up was his fault than the fact that he wanted to patch things up.

"You didn't do a damn thing wrong, man, it was all on her." Diggle assured him, though Oliver didn't look convinced.

"Digg's got a point, Ollie." Tommy added. "You and Laurel have been over for a while and we all know it."

Oliver bit his lip lightly to avoid snapping at Tommy for that comment. As much as he hated to admit it, Tommy had a point. All those little things over the last few weeks had been building up to that night, even if he hadn't wanted to see it at the time. Still, it wasn't exactly what he was hoping to hear from the two of them.

"Great support guys, glad to know I've got such good friends." Oliver bit out.

"We're not friends, Ollie, we're brothers. Sometimes that means giving you the brutal truth." On seeing the face Oliver was pulling, Tommy continued, putting an arm around Oliver's shoulders. "But if you really want Laurel back then…" Tommy caught Diggle's eyes then, the older man giving him a look that was begging him not to finish that sentence. "We'll help you get her back."

"Thanks, Tommy." Oliver managed a weak smile. "Now we just need to…"

"I already have a plan." Tommy cut him off with a smug grin, signalling for three more shots.

Regrettably, Diggle accepted the shot he was given. He already knew that whatever Tommy's plan was would need a little lubrication in order to help him agree to it. He was particularly surprised that Tommy had agreed to help Oliver win Laurel back, for as long as he had known the duo, Diggle had also known the crush Tommy harboured for Laurel. Of course, Tommy held Oliver's friendship in far too high regard to have ever made a play, but Diggle had been certain that Tommy would have taken the break-up to his advantage.

Knocking back the shot, Oliver turned to look at Tommy. "Let's hear it."

Any other day of the week, Oliver would never have taken dating advice from Tommy, but he was seriously desperate.

"You get yourself another girl." Tommy stated proudly, though he quickly continued when he was the look on Oliver's face. "Just listen a minute. It's all about jealously, Laurel breaks up with you but sees you entering the scene with a brand-new hottie, what happens then?"

At the questioning looks Tommy received from both his friends he let out a dramatic sigh. "She freaks, man. Gets all possessive and shit. Trust me, it works."

Oliver gave up and let his head collide with the bar, if that was the greatest plan Tommy could come up with, he was in serious trouble.

"This is the big idea? Pretend to be interested in another woman?" Diggle questioned apprehensively.

"Yep. It works too, used that trick myself a few times." Tommy let out a contented sigh at that. "Damn, I am good."

"You know, Oliver." Diggle spoke, watching as his friend plucked himself up from the bar. "It's not actually the worst plan in the world."

That was a total lie. Diggle really wasn't sure he could come up with a worse plan even if he tried, but he knew Oliver and Tommy too well. Any kind of plan they would come up with would undoubtedly involve Oliver hooking up with another woman, and well…so long as the girl Oliver chose knew the whole thing was for show, she wouldn't get her heart broken.

"You both actually think this is going to work?"

"Oh yeah." Tommy grinned. "We gotta find you a girl first. Know any hot chicks looking for a few weeks of heaven with the one-and-only Oliver Queen?"

"If you hadn't noticed, I've been off the market for a year or so, I haven't exactly got girls queuing up like you do, Tommy." Oliver smirked.

"We all know that'll change the second the break-up hits the gossip columns." Diggle remarked, a light smile on his lips.

With a sigh, Oliver ran a hand though his hair. He honestly wasn't sure why he would ever agree to such an insane plan.

There was no way it would ever work.

* * *

 **Author's Note: Thanks for reading all. Got a few little things about this story I wanna explain now, I'd advise reading this.**

 **A lot of the characters are going to be pretty OOC in this fic. Mainly it's Felicity, I kinda figured that, with Noah actually being around and the Smoak family having a decent situation her character would have developed differently. So for the most part, Felicity is going to be less awkward geek and more…'I'm sexy and I know it', you'll figure out what I mean soon enough.**

 **Laurel is going to be a little bit more…evil in this as well. I don't hate on Laurel at all, in fact, if we're talking comics I ship Ollie and Dinah all the way, but for the purpose of the story I have to trash her character a little, Arrow just made me love Olicity too much.**

 **Digg doesn't join the army either, if that wasn't already obvious.**

 **I won't be picking this up properly for a few more weeks, at least not until 'If You Believed in Me' is finished. The good thing is, I know exactly where this story is going to end, hell I've already written the Epilogue, so it won't be too much of a challenge to write.**

 **Think that's all from me, but please, please, please, leave a review. It really helps to know you guys' impressions when I start a new story, it helps to know if it's actually worth writing.**

 **Thanks for reading.**

 **JRW..**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

 **Author's Note: For plot convenience reasons, Thea and Roy are only two years younger than Oliver and co. in this story. I'll post a full list of the ages of the character's in the next chapter, I haven't quite figured all the logistics out yet myself.**

 **As a small note, I'm changing what I said about Diggle not going into the army, for plot purposes he did but instead of circling back for his third tour after divorcing Lyla he returned to Starling.**

* * *

Sunlight pushed in through the windows, landing firmly enough to drag a begrudging Felicity from her sleep, fluttering her eyes to repel the rays. With a grunt, she pulled herself across to get a view of the clock on her bedside table, vision blurred for her lack of glasses. As her vision focused, Felicity let out a louder moan, she had slept in.

"Felicity?" Donna's voice came softly through the bedroom door, accompanied by a knock.

"Ugh," Felicity grumbled, snuggling tighter into her sheets. "Five more minutes."

"Honey, your father and I are leaving soon. We need you to drive us to the airport."

That woke her up. The realisation of Felicity's newly found freedom came crashing into her like a tidal wave. With a grin overtaking her features Felicity leapt from her bed and grabbed her glasses. Today was to be her freedom, a whole week without the supervision of her parents, they were about to leave on the Queen family private jet for France.

"I'm awake!" Felicity shouted, bounding across to her door and throwing it open.

Donna's smile was notably wide when Felicity saw her stood on the other side of her door.

"Good," The Smoak matriarch nodded. "We've got just over two hours until the flight, go get yourself ready."

Her smile still in place, Donna span on her heel and headed back toward the stairs. Matching her mother's own grin, Felicity grabbed the red faux-silk robe that hung on the back of her bedroom door and ran to the bathroom to shower.

Not half-an-hour later, Felicity was sat on her couch downstairs. Now dressed in a snugly fitted pair of jeans, a sleeveless red lace trim top and finished with her favourite leather jacket, Felicity did her best to keep her bright attitude in the face of her father rules. Though that attitude began to fade as Noah's lecture approached the 10-minute mark, and she really was doing her best to avoid rolling her eyes.

"Now, one more time," Noah continued, adopting, what Felicity thought was, a markedly disciplinarian pose. "No parties, no staying up after midnight, and absolutely _no boys_. Understood?"

Felicity gave in and rolled her eyes, collapsing back against the sofa with a disgruntled huff.

"So, you're basically killing my social life for the next two weeks." Her words had no hint of questioning in them.

"Now you're getting it." Noah beamed at her, seeming far too pleased with himself for Felicity's liking.

"Ugh, dad!"

"Felicity Megan Smoak, you are seventeen years old. You do not need a social life." Noah chided his daughter.

Before Felicity had a chance, Donna interrupted, calling her husband and indicating to the wall clock that hung in the living space. With a sudden wave of realisation, Noah dropped his scolding of Felicity and quickly set about gathering all the luggage for the holiday, rushing the suitcases out of the front door and loading them into Felicity's mini.

With a sigh of defeat, Felicity got to her feet and headed out the front door, taking a seat behind the wheel as her mother climbed in next to her, the two Smoak women watching Noah attempting to 'Tetris' the luggage into the trunk.

"We're gonna be late for your flight, dad!" Felicity called after a glance at her watch.

The young blonde did her best to mask the giggle that was teasing her lips at the look her mother gave her at that comment. After a few more moments, Noah slid into the back-passenger's side, giving Felicity a more menacing glare than her mother had.

"Love you, dad." Felicity smiled sweetly.

It wasn't that she wanted rid of her parents as quickly as possible, just that…nope, who was she kidding? Felicity _totally_ wanted to get rid of her parents. It was a little under an hour to reach Starling International Airport from their house, and the first ten minutes of the journey managed to go by in relative silence.

"If Curtis comes by, he does _not_ touch my computers." Noah spoke up form the backseat of the car.

Of course, her father hadn't included Curtis in his 'no boys allowed policy'. Okay, so in all the time Felicity had known him, Curtis had been more than open about his homosexuality, and had rather adamantly stated that fact to Felicity's parents after Donna had made a comment about the two of them making a cute couple.

"And _nobody_ touches the Royce." Her dad added for about the 50th time.

Noah Kuttler was the proud owner of a Rolls Royce, a little too proud if you asked Felicity. It was a subject that the Smoak women very much liked to tease Noah about, often calling him out on being more protective of the car than he was of them. It wasn't true, but it was always fun to bring up whenever they wanted to guilt Noah into doing something, her father's only weakness was being too easily swayed by the two most important women in his life.

"Yes, daddy." Felicity smiled sweetly, doing her best to keep from snapping at her father's paranoia. "Everything'll be fine, don't worry."

Tightening her grip on the wheel, Felicity moved one hand to retune the radio for about the tenth time since they entered the car. When she was driving, Felicity was pretty incapable of choosing a single radio station. It wasn't anything to do with the stations themselves, but Felicity was a fidgetier, whether that as chewing on pens or flicking through radio frequencies, she just couldn't keep still.

"Eyes on the road, 'Lissy." Noah remarked, noticing her distraction.

With what felt like the hundredth groan of the day, and being as she'd only been awake for just over an hour that was pretty impressive, Felicity clenched her fists tightly around the wheel in frustration. Her 17th birthday present, the car in question, was one of the greatest gifts Felicity had ever received, a deep red classic mini cooper. Yet, she had never been able to drive her car in peace, either her father or mother insisted on accompanying her wherever she drove, which took most of the fun out of driving. Her return home from the airport would mark the fourth journey she would make on her own in the 5 months the car had been in her possession.

The rest of the journey passed in peace, and before Felicity knew it she was pulling into the departures drop-off at Starling International.

"Okay, we're here." Felicity beamed, jumping form her car to help with her parents' luggage.

That earned yet another disapproving look from her father as he stepped from the car. "In that much of a rush to get rid of us?"

"Not at all," Felicity's softer smile returned, which her father immediately fell for. "I just wouldn't want you to miss your flight."

Noah seemed to buy her excuse, and the two continued to unload the bags form the trunk. Donna on the other hand, didn't seem so entirely convinced by Felicity's explanation, simply offering her daughter a knowing smile, she always had been able to see through Felicity.

Once all the luggage was unpacked, Felicity embraced her father in a tight hung, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek as she did. As soon as Felicity was released from her father's arms she was pulled into a bone-crushing hug by her mother, Donna always had been a little more open about her emotions than her husband was.

As the two Smoak women embraced, Donna lent in close to Felicity's ear.

"I don't care what your father says," Donna began in a whisper. "If you haven't thrown a house party by the time we get back, I'm disowning you."

While Felicity knew that her mother was only teasing, the words brought a smile to her lips. Of course, her mother wanted her to throw that party, Donna had always seemed to care more about her daughter social reputation than she did her own. It had put the two women at odds somewhat when Felicity had been a little younger, until her mid-teens the youngest Smoak mostly kept to herself. Now though, Felicity embraced her mother's open and outgoing personality, adopting much of it herself.

The two women broke apart, and Felicity watched as her parents disappeared into the shifting mass of people who filled Starling International. After her parents were far out of sight, Felicity turned on her heel and let out a soft cry of victory. Without another thought for her parents, Felicity jumped back into her car and sped back home.

 _XXX_

For what felt like the hundredth time that morning, Oliver's back slammed into the mats that littered the floor of Queen Mansion's private gym. The gym was actually a relatively recent addition to the mansion, having only been installed a little over a year prior. The whole thing had been designed by Diggle, having been given a blank check by Robert and Moira to put together a state-of-the-art gym for Oliver, as a Christmas present.

"You're off your game today, man." Diggle spoke, offering Oliver a hand and pulling the younger man to his feet. "What's going on? And don't blame it on the hangover because I know you haven't got one."

Surprisingly, none of the trio had got too drunk the night before, which was even more of a shock given the break-up. What had surprised Oliver even more had been that, when he woke up, he found himself thinking more about Tommy's mad idea to get him back with Laurel than the break-up itself. Despite his reservations, Oliver was beginning to think that it might actually work.

Though that had started another debate in his head, how the hell would he find a girl to go along with the plan? Sure, once the tabloids found out that he was single Oliver would undoubtedly have plenty of potential... _partners_ , but finding someone who would willing be in a fake-relationship just to win back his ex was going to be a serious challenge.

"Oliver? You awake in there?" Diggle called, snapping Oliver back to reality.

"Yeah, sorry Digg just…a little wrapped in my thoughts today." Oliver replied, watching the older man

"Still thinking about Tommy's plan?" Diggle questioned, seeing straight through Oliver.

It was one of the reasons Oliver had become such good friends with Diggle over the past two years, the man could see through him, could understand him, on a totally different level to Tommy. Sure, the Merlyn heir knew pretty much all there was to know about Oliver, but any advice he had to give was based around one of two themes; getting drunk or getting laid (though sometimes Tommy would recommend both, just to be sure). Neither of which tended to be effective 100% of the time.

Diggle was different, despite being 8 years older than Oliver himself, John Diggle seemed to have the wisdom and experience of someone twice his own age. The two were able to have genuine conversations, discuss emotions (though reluctantly in Oliver's case), and the older man could give strikingly good advice on pretty much any topic.

Oliver knew that a lot of the seriousness that Diggle held came from the departure of his ex-wife, Lyla, who had left the older man's life a few months before he and Oliver had met. From what Oliver had learnt about the woman, she had the same burning need to help people that Diggle did, though the two had eventually gone about it different ways.

From what Diggle had told Oliver, they had met during his time in the army, and had married not long after. When the couple had completed their second tour of Afghanistan they had returned to the states, though their marriage hadn't been able to survive the civilian life (it had taken Oliver far too much vodka to drag that particular fact out of Diggle). Lyla had moved on to join some government agency, while Diggle had decided to stay in Starling and, with the assistance of a few old army friends, had opened a gym in the Glades.

From there, the ex-soldier had offered free self-defence classes to 'at-risk' women and teens. Diggle had once told Oliver that he didn't think anyone should live in the Glades without at least some basic knowledge of how to defend themselves.

That had been how the two met. After getting his ass handed to him one too many times, Oliver decided he needed to learn how to defend himself. Despite his parents offering him the best personal trainers money could buy, Oliver had refused, he knew that anyone who was taking his parents money wouldn't push him, wouldn't give him a real challenge. He had wanted…needed someone who would actually treat him as their student, not the pampered son of Robert and Moira Queen.

"Yeah." Oliver finally answered. "As mad as it makes me sound, it doesn't actually seem like an awful idea to me anymore."

Diggle let out a pensive sigh, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I just think you wanna be careful, man. If you overplay this, there's a pretty good chance that you'll lose Laurel forever." He began. "I mean, you, her and Tommy have been friends for your whole lives. I'm just worried that you might do something you'll live to regret."

Diggle's words hit Oliver hard, it was a point that he hadn't really considered. After the break-up, Oliver had been so consumed with the desire to be with her again, that he hadn't considered the damage Tommy's plan might do to their dynamic if it didn't go the way they intended. Oliver was still, undoubtedly, in love with her and to him that meant that they would never be able to be friends.

In that moment, Oliver Queen made a revelation that surprised himself:

He would rather lose Laurel completely than suffer being her friend.

 _XXX_

"Ray Palmer does not have a crush on me."

"He totally does." Curtis insisted.

"Are you sure?" Felicity asked, doing her best to mask the excitement she was feeling.

"That's what Iris told me." Caitlin shrugged.

"And who told him?" Felicity urged.

"She heard it from Barry, who heard it from Cisco, who got told it _by Ray_."

"Yep, so it looks like Ray has a crush on you too." Alena finished for Caitlin with a casual smirk.

At the conformation of her crush, Felicity let out an ear-piercing squeal of joy. She had been waiting for months for Palmer to ask her out, her crush had gone from ' _cute at a distance_ ' to ' _have my babies_ ' (those event names generously provided by Curtis) the day she first accidentally bumped into him outside her locker at Starling Academy. Well, she told everyone it had been an accident.

Ray had transferred to S.A. a little over 6 months prior, and Felicity had been completely captivated by him. He was not only completely gorgeous but was one of the nicest and most genuine people she had ever known.

It wasn't too long after that she had 'introduced herself' to Ray. She had managed to tactfully bump into him outside her locker one morning, making a slightly dramatic display of dropping her folders and school books. Just as she had expected, Ray had been a gentleman and collected all her things, he even offered to carry them to her class for her by way of apology.

So, learning that her crush was reciprocated had, quite justly, made Felicity squeal with joy.

"I'd expect a call from him today," Caitlin added. "From what the boys are saying he might be hosting a garden party, barbecue thing at his place."

As she was speaking, Caitlin had hopped from her place on the sofa and walked across to the fridge. Throwing the door open, the brunette leant into the fridge, looking around it expectantly. After a brief moment of investigation, Caitlin turned back to the others.

"There's no soda in the fridge," Caitlin began, holding her now empty can up and shaking it in the direction of the group. "And I need a refill."

With a markedly dramatic roll of her eyes, Felicity pushed herself to her feet and began crossing the room.

"There should be a few more in the fridge in the garage." Felicity replied as she headed through the door connecting the kitchen to the garage.

The cool chill of the concrete garage sank across Felicity skin as she entered, how the extension to the house still managed to feel cold with the near-tropical heat outside was a wonder to her. Reaching to the fridge that sat against the wall beside the door, Felicity grabbed as many cans of soda as she could carry, scooping them all up in her arms.

Completely unaware of the presence of her friends behind her Felicity jumped in fright when she felt two hands suddenly land on her shoulders, only just managing to prevent the cans from tumbling from her arms and onto the cold, unforgiving floor where they would've been sure to make a mess. Spinning on her heel, Felicity came face-to-face with a smirking Alena.

"Alena, you bitch!" Felicity squealed, lightly kicking her friends leg with her foot. "You scared the crop outta me."

Alena, along with Caitlin and Curtis who were stood behind her, burst into a fit of laughter at both Felicity's surprise and subsequent outburst. The trio seemingly ignored the blonde's reaction beyond that, each of them walking further into the garage and grabbing a can from Felicity's arms as they walked passed her.

"So _that's_ the infamous b-day present?" Curtis spoke, letting out a long whistle of appreciation as he looked over Felicity's mini.

Dumping the remainder of the cans back in the fridge, save one for herself, Felicity popped the drink open and walked to stand beside Curtis.

"Yep, that's it."

"It?" Alena gasped. "No way, 'Lissy, a car that gorgeous and that retro is a her."

With a roll of her eyes, Felicity let out a small giggle at her friend. "Whatever you say."

"We should totally go for a ride." A grin, which bordered on outright evil Felicity thought, grew over Alena's lips at that comment.

"Uh-uh," Felicity replied without hesitation. "My dad is only just letting me drive this thing around on my own with him and mom away. If he found out I was driving us all around in _it_ he'd kill me."

When she finished, Felicity looked to Caitlin for a little support on her refusal. The other girl had known her for a few years longer than Alena had, so they both knew the extend of Noah's overprotectiveness too well. Much to her chagrin, Felicity saw no support in Caitlin's eyes, in fact the brunette seemed to be in full support of Alena's suggestion.

"Come on, Cait." Felicity tried, throwing her the best puppy dog eyes she could muster.

"He is in a different country 'Lis. Your dad can be…stubborn but there's no way he'll find out." Caitlin answered with a small tip of her head, and a light bite of her bottom lip.

"Traitor." Felicity hissed at the brunette, though there was no real anger in her voice.

Even if Felicity wasn't brave enough to admit it, she had been considering taking their group for a ride in her mini as soon as they had all arrived at her house. In truth, she had been dying to show off her present since the day she had been given it, but she knew that would never really happen until Noah and Donna stopped insisting on being with her whenever she drove the car. The only thing that had been stopping her after their departure was the knowledge that Noah Kuttler was borderline paranoid in any matter that involved his ' _innocent little Felicity_ ', a trait the young blonde loathed with a passion unlike any other.

"We could swing by Ray's place if we did," Curtis spoke up. "See if that barbeque thing is going ahead?"

Damn her friends to hell for knowing exactly how to push her buttons.

"Get in the car." Felicity bit out. "I've gotta go change."

It took Felicity precisely 6 minutes and 47 seconds to change and apply a _little_ light make-up. She was freshly clad in skin-hugging embossed jeans, which showed off her toned curves all too well, and an equally tight black tank top. Her hair had been pulled from the ponytail it had been kept in all morning and so fell in loose waves to frame her face.

Hoping into her mini, Felicity fought a smirk at the whistles and cat-calls of her best-friends. A few moments later, the group were pulling out onto the street and speeding across to Ray Palmer's house on the other side of Starling.

 _XXX_

"Nyssa, please. Do this and I'll never ask for another thing of you again." Oliver pleaded into his phone as he collapsed into the seat of his Jaguar F-Type.

"No, Oliver," The stern voice of Nyssa came through the phone. "It's not happening and if you had even a small amount of common sense you'd forget this whole idea."

"I can't, it's the only way I can think to get her back."

"You mean the only thing Tommy can think of," Oliver could practically hear Nyssa's smile. "A dim-witted idea like this _has_ to be one of his."

Oliver didn't even try to hide his sigh of defeat from Nyssa, the woman knew him a little too well. Nyssa had been Oliver's neighbour practically all their lives and, they knew each other inside and out. Oliver was the first person Nyssa came out to, was there with her when she told her father and threatened all the jerks at school who had mocked her for it when it became public knowledge, not that Nyssa couldn't handle herself but Oliver liked to make himself useful, and so they shared a bond much like siblings.

"Oliver, can I give you some advice."

"I don't actually have a choice here, do I?" Oliver spoke dejectedly.

"You're a good man, if a little rough around the edges, even if you won't admit it yourself," Nyssa paused, choosing her next words carefully. "And regardless of how I feel about the Lance family I think that, no matter how much you are hurting now, you'll be better off without Laurel."

Oliver jerked upright in his seat at that comment. "How can you say that?"

"Look at your relationship with Laurel, Oliver. I have no doubts that you had strong feelings about her once, you might have even loved her, but everyone could see that you were making each other miserable by the end."

"I called you for help to get back with Laurel, not a therapy session." Oliver snapped into his phone.

He shouldn't have been angry at Nyssa for her comments, she was just saying aloud something he knew was true, something that most people knew was true. He couldn't help his feelings though, Oliver loved Laurel, or at least what he thought love was supposed to feel like.

"You don't need help for that Oliver, especially not if you insist on going through with your ridiculous plan."

"If you aren't going to help me, I'll just have to find someone else who will."

"Then good luck to you, Oliver." Nyssa's resigned reply came, at least she seemed to accept that he wasn't changing his mind on the issue.

To anyone who didn't know the duo well enough, it would almost seem like they were at odds, but as irritable as Oliver had become he refused to actually argue with Nyssa. Sure, the two of them would regularly disagree on things, mostly when Nyssa thought he was being a stubborn jerk, but they never had real arguments.

"Alright, Nyssa, I get the message." Oliver shrugged. "You coming to this garden party at Ray's?"

"Figure I'd better, if only to stop you doing from something stupid." Nyssa replied, sounding a little smug.

"I'll pick you up in five?" Oliver questioned, starting his car's engine.

"Sounds good." Nyssa spoke, ending the call after she did.

With a smile on his lips, Oliver drove out onto the path that would take him out of the Queen Estate. Nyssa's father owned the estate that began exactly where the Queen one ended, so it took hardly any time to travel between the two. In fact, Oliver noted that he probably spent more time traversing the drive that led to the respective mansions than he did traveling between the estates.

As he drove, Oliver's mind went to Tommy's advice. He needed Laurel back, he'd do whatever it took for that. He was certain that he loved Laurel, though given he had pretty limited experience with that emotion he wasn't entirely sure. They had been friends more or less as long as he could remember and pretty much everyone had noticed the sexual tension between them during their mid-teens which eventually became their on-again/off-again romance.

Putting his attention back on the road, Oliver sped up a little, driving through the entrance to the Raatko estate.

 _XXX_

It was almost half an hour later that Oliver pulled up in front of the Palmer residence and it was pretty evident that the party was in full swing. As soon as the car had turned onto the street Oliver and Nyssa had been able to hear the music that was coming from the garden, and there was a considerable gathering of people around the front of the house, all of whom were clutching various alcoholic drinks.

As Oliver turned off the engine Nyssa turned to him. "Drink if you want, I'll drive us home."

Nyssa had never been a particularly huge fan of alcohol. Oh, she could drink with the best of them and really could give Tommy and Oliver a run for their money if she wanted, but she was always more than comfortable to pass up on getting drunk.

"Nyssa, you're a goddess." Oliver grinned, planting a sarcastically sloppy kiss on his friend's cheek and relishing in the way she squirmed.

Before either of them could make a move the screeching of tires filled the air, a moment later the duo were jerked forward toward the dashboard from the impact of the collision and the car rolled forward a little. Having been in a few more than his fair share of accidents before, Oliver knew exactly what had happened, they'd just been rear-ended, but given that the airbags hadn't been activated it was safe to assume the damage was minimal.

"Son-of-a-bitch." Oliver grunted, before glancing across to Nyssa. "You ok?"

After receiving a nod of acknowledgement from his friend, Oliver pushed his door open and stepped out onto the pavement, ready to give the idiot who'd damaged his car a piece of his mind.

* * *

 **Author's Note: So, I'm back and this story lives. I want to say a massive thanks to all the people who followed and reviewed this story during its brief hiatus and I hope this was worth the wait.**

 **As always please leave a review, they really do brighten my day.**


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